Need Surgery, Try India

Faced with medical costs zooming out of control in the United States, Americans and their employers are increasingly outsourcing their health care to countries like India, according to a story in GlobalPost. This year hospitals abroad are reporting record numbers of American patients.

The July 27 story, “Slumdog Doctors No More,” cites the example of 65-year-old Les Seaver-Davis, who was able to get needed surgery done on his knee in Bangalore, India, for one-fourth of what hospitals in the United States were demanding. Seaver-Davis says the price might be cheap, but the service was exemplary nonetheless. “For the first time in my life, I feel like I’m cared for by the best people in the world.”

The hospital that treated Seaver-Davis, Wockhardt, tells GlobalPost that they have provided extensive medical care, from heart bypass operations to organ transplants to 580 Americans already this year — three times the amount since last year.

Dubbed “medical tourism” by some, dozens of countries provide excellent medical care abroad at a significantly lower cost. For example, nearby Cuba, officially off limits to American tourists, averages about 20,000 foreign patients annually for eye-surgeries, cancers and more. To give an idea of the quality of Cuba’s medical care: the country boasts twice as many doctors per capita as the United States; the infant mortality rate is lower than the United States; the Cuban mortality rate is third-lowest in the world; and life expectancy is roughly on par.

Maybe a little illegal travel would be good for your health.